Trials of Mana

 PC
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 64 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 64
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 64
  3. Negative: 8 out of 64

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  1. Juniialex
    Apr 25, 2020
    10
    It's a most play game, it's entertaining and has amazing design and beautiful music along with lots of hours of replay
  2. skohl
    Apr 27, 2020
    8
    This is a faithful remake of Seiken Densetsu 3, the SNES sequel to Secret of Mana that was never released outside of Japan. Everything good about that game is here, they didn't mess anything up, while also expanding the late-game content a little bit. It's impressive how successfully they adapted the visual style of the 2D game to 3D, which is the best reason for a remake to exist IMO, andThis is a faithful remake of Seiken Densetsu 3, the SNES sequel to Secret of Mana that was never released outside of Japan. Everything good about that game is here, they didn't mess anything up, while also expanding the late-game content a little bit. It's impressive how successfully they adapted the visual style of the 2D game to 3D, which is the best reason for a remake to exist IMO, and which they could have easily messed up like they did with the Secret of Mana remake from a couple years back.

    So let me tell you about this game. It's extremely simple, easy and linear. You might expect it to be boring, so why is it so fun? Why have you heard people recommend the original?
    Because of the class system. Upon beginning this game you choose three party members from a choice of six, and each party member gets to change classes twice during the game. The options for forming a party and choosing classes for each of them is extremely engaging, and makes this comfy little game that should be boring into something infinitely replayable. It's one of the most replayable JRPGs ever.

    The bad:
    -some of the English voice acting is repulsive, thankfully it's also funny and charming most of the time
    -no co-op play
    -party AI is dumb, and could be more customizable than it is
    -bosses are too easy later on, they need more HP or something
    -the price is a little steep
    -options to disable the minimap, making exploration more rewarding, but no option to disable the objective marker (in the original, you could actually get lost despite the game's linearity)

    The characters in this game look nice. It's fun and relaxing to run around the comfy environments, fighting monsters and enjoying the music.    … Expand
  3. death12123
    Jul 2, 2020
    8
    Trials of Mana is a solid game overall and from what I hear a game from overseas built from the ground up. I like this game and want more. I like many of the characters outside of Charlotte and the story feels somewhat basic but at the same time likable. Easy and linear but the gameplay is where it's at for sure. Depending on who you pick as your team you can determine how you will buildTrials of Mana is a solid game overall and from what I hear a game from overseas built from the ground up. I like this game and want more. I like many of the characters outside of Charlotte and the story feels somewhat basic but at the same time likable. Easy and linear but the gameplay is where it's at for sure. Depending on who you pick as your team you can determine how you will build their skills around which is pretty cool with the customization.

    A few things I would work on though:
    - I play in English. Fix Charlotte. My god she's annoying as heck. Mostly fine but could be better though it's pretty funny as well.
    - I would make the AI better. Sometimes they're outright useless
    - Difficulty. Make it overall more difficult
    - More options. I had to go outside to my DPI settings to make mouse movements playable at much faster speeds. It feels to slow in regular options. (2400DPI to 7200DPI)

    I get mostly close to 120FPS when playing on max settings and the game looks pretty good. With mod support too this game looks gorgeous and adds more customization from outfits to difficulty and overall enjoyment.

    Definitely worth a pickup if you're into Action JRPGs or JRPGs in general.    … Expand
  4. somedude14
    Mar 26, 2021
    9
    Overall, it's a nice SNES RPG with modern graphics. Music is pretty good, art style is really nice. Bosses are item-spammy (unless I'm doing something wrong, but I dodge a lot of attacks and still need to item-spam bosses). Always make sure to have plenty of medicinal herbs on hand for when you get status effects. Gameplay loop is essentially cutscene -> grinding -> cutscene -> boss ->Overall, it's a nice SNES RPG with modern graphics. Music is pretty good, art style is really nice. Bosses are item-spammy (unless I'm doing something wrong, but I dodge a lot of attacks and still need to item-spam bosses). Always make sure to have plenty of medicinal herbs on hand for when you get status effects. Gameplay loop is essentially cutscene -> grinding -> cutscene -> boss -> cutscene -> exploration -> repeat. Level ups don't feel very powerful one-by-one, takes several to notice a difference, which makes it difficult to overpower the game (good or bad thing depending on your take). The party AI is pretty good for the most part, but they seem to go braindead sometimes when special attacks are being used, which can open them up for a decent amount of damage in boss fights.

    Also do yourself a favor and turn on Auto dash in the settings. And once you get your first class change, be sure to use your new WeakWeakWeakStrong combo, it does a ton of damage in the end! There's another hidden combo that unlocks when you get your third class, which is mashing light attack a bunch and then hitting strong attack as the fourth attack, it's a different combo from the previously mentioned one and does even more damage on that final hit.

    Had one crash, I killed the megaboss and the game crashed on me. Still got the achievement, but if I want the in-game reward I'm going to have to do it again.

    Timestamp is how long it takes to 100% the game on one playthrough, so not doing NG+ to see the other three character stories. Coop would've made this a 10 for me.    … Expand
  5. Striker850
    Jun 29, 2020
    10
    This is an incredible game, im being serious. Animations are pretty fluid, the art style is colorful and the music is really catchy and cute. The character design, the class system and the outfit design are on spot.

    The equipment / item / ability management is straight forward with no useless complexity. The story is really good for this type of games. You should expect 40 hours of    This is an incredible game, im being serious. Animations are pretty fluid, the art style is colorful and the music is really catchy and cute. The character design, the class system and the outfit design are on spot.

    The equipment / item / ability management is straight forward with no useless complexity. The story is really good for this type of games. You should expect 40 hours of mostly non repetitive and interesting gameplay to begin with, you have also a wide selection of mods available on the internet and some post end game content to have fun with.

    Although the story is mostly linear, you can choose your characters and get some dialog variations and small differences depending on the composition of your party. Really nice experience overall, you get to empathize with characters and you get engaged with the story.

    If you like difficult games with fast pased combat this is not for you. If you hate cutscenes or anime style graphics this is not for you. However, if you like remakes of retro games with beautiful music, a good story and some fun abilities to play with, this is definitely the best game you should be playing for hours, even if you arent into the genre and you dont know the mechanics.

    This is a nice drug, easy to get into, hard to stop playing and that may make you dream and cry like a child if you still have a soul in this grey world.

    Have fun with Trials of Mana. I have already completed the game and Im off to a fresh start.

    May the Mana Godess be with you    … Expand
  6. GerardCS
    Jul 19, 2020
    8
    Un juego bonito, colorido y lleno de fantasia. Gran remake de un gran juego, si jugaste al original debes jugar este, si no pudiste jugar al original pero te gusta el rpg debes jugar este. Actualizacion de un clasico hecha con cariño y respetando la obra original. Unos de los pocos puntos en contra son el nivel de dificultad claramente suavizado y no poder desactivar los puntos deUn juego bonito, colorido y lleno de fantasia. Gran remake de un gran juego, si jugaste al original debes jugar este, si no pudiste jugar al original pero te gusta el rpg debes jugar este. Actualizacion de un clasico hecha con cariño y respetando la obra original. Unos de los pocos puntos en contra son el nivel de dificultad claramente suavizado y no poder desactivar los puntos de señalizacion de objetivo en pantalla, te dicen en todo momento donde ir, con quien hablar, que cojer... destrozando toda sensacion de exploracion.… Expand
  7. LastResource
    Jan 14, 2023
    10
    worth it and glad to play this game again. so much memories and nostalgia within this spin off game in the series.
  8. JinIzanagi
    Jun 10, 2020
    3
    The character design is good, map design is good, but that's all.
    Battle is too easy and simple enough to make you boring.
    And this was the biggest disgrace, the direction of the cut scene and event scene are horrible. It's like made by an elementary school students, it's so childish.
    The original version of SNES wasn't artless as this remake.
  9. Churn
    Apr 27, 2020
    3
    I'm going to write this as my first and maybe last review here but from the perspective of a PC gamer in the year 2020 with no nostalgic feelings for the old games.

    I find it a shame how much money is being asked for, for the level of technical expertise displayed. Except for the character models, the environment and texture work looks like it was still designed between 2006-2010    I'm going to write this as my first and maybe last review here but from the perspective of a PC gamer in the year 2020 with no nostalgic feelings for the old games.

    I find it a shame how much money is being asked for, for the level of technical expertise displayed.
    Except for the character models, the environment and texture work looks like it was still designed between 2006-2010 forgotten and then used for the 2020 release.
    The interior assets are reused dozens of times across locations, not even the pavement in the city receives any bump mapping, they are plain flat, like in games from the first half of the 2000s.

    The moveset of the characters is fairly limited and barely extends beyond button mashing melee/charged attacks/distance/special moves but the enemies are slow. Indeed for most of the characters I can't right away tell if I'm still normally walking at a brisk pace or running already which makes you spend extra time on the small maps, that I don't want to give the game in 2020.
    The characters are paper thin and never evoked any intrigue.

    All in all, only buy if you have warm fuzzy feelings for 90s Nostalgia, love and regularly playing old Sprite RPGs or always wanted to play an Mana game. Otherwise keep your hands off that game.
    As a PC title I would place it between 20-25 bucks, new.    … Expand
  10. Muuvinki
    Nov 16, 2020
    6
    Extremely mediocre jrpg that has serious problems with friendly AI, repetitive gameplay and lack of depth in storytelling. Its not a terrible game by any means but its just so average that its nothing special.
  11. Deaden
    Jun 11, 2020
    2
    Is this nostalgia game? NO
    Is this for mature content game? NO
    Is this for people who played many many years ago? HELL NO!
    So, who is for? Kiddos! It's not need to be expert to play. Give the controllers to a 5 years old kid that's enough. This game is not for people who is waiting to play at these age!
  12. MikComposer
    Jan 13, 2023
    9
    I really loved the original game ( emulated with fan translation ), and this is a dream come true for me. While playing I was feeling that this game was made for me, someone who played and completed all main action adventure games on snes, and many other action adventure games on pc and consoles. Graphics is not amazing, but feels like the original game in 3d which is fine by me. Music gotI really loved the original game ( emulated with fan translation ), and this is a dream come true for me. While playing I was feeling that this game was made for me, someone who played and completed all main action adventure games on snes, and many other action adventure games on pc and consoles. Graphics is not amazing, but feels like the original game in 3d which is fine by me. Music got updated arrangements and is just as lovely as it was on snes. Combat is same or similar to snes original, simple but involving. Much more fun then many modern takes on the formula.… Expand
  13. Sunkada
    Apr 27, 2020
    9
    I think they did a really good job.
    While not technically super impressive, it's colorful and vibrant, full of charm.
    The gameplay is fun, the world is pretty large, visiting all the unique areas has been a pleasure, the story is extremely basic but does its job, the soundtrack is incredible. What I liked the most was the wide array of customization for your party and their movesets.    I think they did a really good job.
    While not technically super impressive, it's colorful and vibrant, full of charm.
    The gameplay is fun, the world is pretty large, visiting all the unique areas has been a pleasure, the story is extremely basic but does its job, the soundtrack is incredible.
    What I liked the most was the wide array of customization for your party and their movesets.
    While not everything is perfect, I've had a great time with this. A big step up from Secret of Mana R.    … Expand
  14. VendonJura
    May 10, 2023
    10
    Finally a good RPG. It doesn't come close to Secret of Everemore, but it's a mana game and that's what's good.

    ✅ You can play multiple characters ✅ Each hero has his own story ✅ Class change possible ✅ Easy use of skills with controller possible ✅ No lags or anything else ✅ Graphics ✅ Dubbing voices ✅ Atmosphere ✅ Great combat system ❌ Music that is quite annoying and only    Finally a good RPG. It doesn't come close to Secret of Everemore, but it's a mana game and that's what's good.

    ✅ You can play multiple characters
    ✅ Each hero has his own story
    ✅ Class change possible
    ✅ Easy use of skills with controller possible
    ✅ No lags or anything else
    ✅ Graphics
    ✅ Dubbing voices
    ✅ Atmosphere
    ✅ Great combat system

    ❌ Music that is quite annoying and only lasts 5-20 seconds or so and runs in a continuous loop.
    ❌ No forge
    ❌ 99% of the chests, etc. have absolute trash loot. This is the only RPG game I know where opening a chest is absolutely 0 fun for me because 99% of the time you get junk.
    ❌Minor bugs
    ❌ You can't just go to an island and train there. It's just a pipe system where you have to walk straight and you can't just do whatever you want.
    ❌ No arena

    Otherwise, this is a pretty good RPG. So if you like playing RPG games, you should definitely get this game here.    … Expand
  15. pmasterfunk
    Sep 22, 2022
    5
    As fondly as I look back on Secret of Mana, Trials of Mana (aka Seiken Densetsu 3) never really did much for me. I had tons of nitpicks about the action, the story felt a bit underwhelming. Sure, it was a technical tour de force back in the day, and I think it still stands as one of the best-looking pixel art games ever made, and its OST was and remains very good. But so many tiny thingsAs fondly as I look back on Secret of Mana, Trials of Mana (aka Seiken Densetsu 3) never really did much for me. I had tons of nitpicks about the action, the story felt a bit underwhelming. Sure, it was a technical tour de force back in the day, and I think it still stands as one of the best-looking pixel art games ever made, and its OST was and remains very good. But so many tiny things annoy me about it. How does the remake fare?

    The story is an exact play-by-play retelling of the original, with all its backtracking, macguffin searching, and lack of agency intact. It's too bad that the story wasn't streamlined, because it feels like padding nowadays. There's not much character growth, the bad guys are bad because, uh, *checks notes* because they're bad guys. Motivations are kinda flimsy, and connections between characters and arcs are tenuous at best. It's kinda bloated. The whole Domperi arc could have been removed. The group doesn't really "search" for Shade as much as they run into him by accident. The volcano arc is completely unnecessary. The story seems epic at first, but compared to Secret of Mana, it's kinda bland. SoM is full of tragedy: Randi's exile from Potos; Dyluck's story; heck, even Geshtar's return as an undead warrior is pretty dark. Trials never really hits as hard.

    I never liked the enemy leveling system in Trials. I understand that it's somewhat necessary for the non-linear part of the game, but I just don't want to fight level 40 rabites, I'm tired of seeing those guys. It never feels like the characters are getting more powerful, because I'm stuck facing the same enemies over and over again. The action really frustrated me in the original, and it's somewhat improved here, but it kinda falls flat as an action RPG. A lot of times it just feels like I'm waiting for enemies to die. Dodging doesn't feel good, attacks don't feel very snappy, and hits aren't satisfying when they connect. Enemies are hp sponges, especially some bosses. Considering how much fighting there is in the game, I want and expect better mechanics than this.

    So the story's kinda bland and the action kinda weak... why am I playing this again? For the graphics maybe?

    Visually, Square did this game dirty. From arguably the best-looking 16-bit game ever to borderline PS2 era graphics. Characters look like plastic, some enemies look awful (Molebears, what have you done to the molebears?!?!). Lighting is flat all around, so most locales feel bland and lack personality. I couldn't even tell if it was day or night in some areas. I've been told the models are "aCcUrAtE tO tHe oRiGiNaL sOuRce mAtErIaL", but that seems like a cheap excuse for making stuff that looks bad, while completely missing the point of the original concepts.

    The music is still good, I mean, it's hard to ruin one of the best OSTs of the 16-bit era. I think Secret of Mana's music is better overall, though.

    I was still considering looking past some of these transgressions, but the cut scenes really hammered in the final nail in the coffin. The voice acting is possibly the worst I've heard, period. It runs the gamut from incredibly stiff to ludicrously hammy. Charlotte is probably the worst, with her "accent" coming in as offender number one. She's a 15-year old in the body of a 6-year old who speaks like a 3-year old (change all letters "r"s and "l"s into "w"s, example: "I'm weawwy sowwy to have to wwite wike dis").

    Why
    WHY

    After playing FF7 Remake, Trials of Mana was interesting to play because it kinda fumbles for completely opposite reasons. FF7R takes tons of liberties with the original, adds lots of content, but almost everything good about it is pulled straight from the original, and most if not all of the new stuff is awful. Trials, on the other hand, has a lot of the same pitfalls as the original. Action that's a bit weak, and a story that's not great. The QoL improvements make the game much more playable though, and the last stretch of the game felt snappier than the original, so there are improvements.

    The Mana games have a specific vibe and whimsy to them that is hard to find elsewhere, and that's kinda sad. I find it depressing to see a classic flagship game with tons of potential be wasted on what is essentially a budget title that panders to the fandom, but you know what they say: "CAPITALISM, BAYBEEEEEEEE"    … Expand
  16. vassagoraziel
    Jun 19, 2020
    9
    Very fun gameplay which feels like a Devil May Cry hack'n slash. Soundtrack is very good too. Graphics are good, not top quality but 8 out of 10 I guess. Story is very simple, but also enjoyable.
  17. AegisXI
    May 1, 2020
    9
    I felt like this remake was really fateful to the original. I loved the old action RPG element this game felt and felt a huge nostalgia playing through the game. I played about 80 Hours of the game and enjoyed every second of it. Not only did they have content from the original, but they also ended a post-game dungeon, which was a great addition to the story!
    With the addition with NG+    I felt like this remake was really fateful to the original. I loved the old action RPG element this game felt and felt a huge nostalgia playing through the game. I played about 80 Hours of the game and enjoyed every second of it. Not only did they have content from the original, but they also ended a post-game dungeon, which was a great addition to the story!
    With the addition with NG+ and you can choose different characters to find out whats their story, IMO is the greatest thing they couldve added in any game. This gives a lot of replay-ability and can extend more to your playthrus.
    The remake of the music in this game is incredible as well. They did justice on updating the songs and I always had a nostalgic feeling every time I hear the music! On top of that, there's an option to change to the original sound track! I was pretty hyped and loved this feature.
    I absolutely differ from others opinions on the graphics, but I think this style fits perfectly to the game. IMO it matched up how it should look 3D.

    There were some things I didn't like though:
    The English has a terrible dub. Some of the characters were OK, but most of the time it just sounded bland and with no effort. Like they just slapped in the English for the sake of having English dub in it. No matter though, I usually play in Japanese, but would've been great to have English to listen to when I feel like it.

    Another problem I had was the difficulty of the game. This was what got me pretty bad. It would've been a perfect game for me, but this reason is why I knocked off a point. It took no effort to kill enemies / kill boss / stay alive.

    The story in the game is pretty weak. Although each character has their own story, ultimately it leads up to the same thing. Granted this story was way back in 1995, so this type of thing was normal.

    All-in-all, this remake is amazing!    … Expand
  18. psan
    Apr 27, 2022
    7
    Hey it's a pretty solid game and if you don't expect it to be a perfect game then you would enjoy it. A bit too easy but it's still worth it.
  19. cozkimiyu
    Jul 8, 2020
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A good remake game. The feeling of the original work was well captured.
    But it's a little less fun to repeat.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

99
#99 Best PC Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. PCMag
    May 15, 2020
    80
    A nostalgic blast from the past, Trials of Mana could easily become the poster child for remakes done right. It has some failings, particularly the removed multiplayer and odd voice work, but it's an engaging action-RPG that's one of the best on PC.
    Read full review
  2. IGN Japan
    May 7, 2020
    80
    While certain parts of Trials of Mana definitely feel retro, as a whole Square Enix has crafted an extremely well renovated experience. What makes this a great remake is that both gameplay and visual revisions faithfully represent the original experience.
    Read full review
  3. Ragequit.gr
    May 4, 2020
    80
    Trials of Mana is a qualitative remake of Seiken Densetsu 3, cleverly adapted to the modern era, but at the same time captive to the original game in elements such as the mediocre narration and the minor story character development.
    Read full review
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